Spring 2008

THE ENTIRE CALIFORNIA PROVINCE OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS IS UNIQUELY IMPACTED BY THE CRISIS IN THE U.S. IMMIGRATION SYSTEM. THE PEW HISPANIC CENTER ESTIMATES THAT OVER THREE MILLION UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS— ROUGHLY 25 PERCENT OF THE COUNTRY’S TOTAL—LIVE IN THE STATES OF CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA.

It is not an exaggeration to say that every Jesuit ministry within these states—parishes, secondary and pre-secondary schools, universities, spirituality and retreat centers, and direct social services— has direct contact with people who are undocumented. Such immigrants can be counted among our students, family members, parishioners, employees, clients, donors, neighbors, and friends. Throughout the province, “solidarity with immigrants” has been the top priority for social ministries and outreach since August 2006. Appropriately, the Jesuit works of the California Province have a special concern for the undocumented, the “strangers in our midst” who are particularly vulnerable to intimidation, exploitation, and discrimination.

A few years ago, the California Province began to investigate possibilities for a new Jesuit ministry to respond to the reality of communities that are impacted by the consequences of illegal immigration along the U.S./Mexico border. Heeding the Brazilian proverb that “The head thinks from where the feet are planted,” the California Jesuits were particularly interested in the geographic region along the border in southern, central Arizona—the area where most illegal border crossings take place due to the “squeezing effect” caused by increased border fortification and enforcement efforts along the borders of southern California and western Texas. Incidentally, this same area—the Sonoran Desert on both sides of the international border—was once traversed by the Jesuit explorer and missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino, who established the region’s earliest Catholic churches.

In this era of partnership, the California Province over the past two years has been actively cultivating relationships with local and international partners who might collaborate in a new apostolic ministry. Early in the investigation, the province partnered with the Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, a nonprofit humanitarian organization based in Washington, D.C., that has a specific mission to accompany, serve, and defend the rights of refugees and internally displaced peoples. In 2007, representatives of JRS/USA and the California Province made several investigative immersion visits to cities along the border between Arizona and the state of Sonora, Mexico. The purpose of these visits was to discern the most pressing social and pastoral needs of communities on both sides of the border, and to better understand the concrete situation of migrants as they seek to cross the border or are deported from the United States into Mexico. During these visits, members of the Jesuit organizations met with many Catholic and other faith leaders, directors of nonprofit service and assistance organizations, priests and religious women engaged in active migrant ministry, religious leaders, government leaders, and migrants themselves.

From these investigations the Jesuit organizations discerned several key components for a new ministry initiative:

• An effective border ministry must be binational in scope and outreach, both because the social causes and consequences of migration exist on either side of the border, and because the culture and economy on each side of the border directly impacts the other.
• The most pressing humanitarian need on the Mexico side of the border is to meet the needs of returning or deported migrants amongst whom unaccompanied women are especially vulnerable.
• The most pressing need on the U.S. side of the border is for education and pastoral formation regarding the Church’s positions on migration and Catholic social teaching; it seems that the closer one gets to the border, the less parish communities discuss the realities of migration, its consequences, and Church teaching.
• The cities of Ambos Nogales would make a logical choice for a new Jesuit ministry because Nogales is the main point of deportation in Arizona, and there are crucial gaps in education, formation, and social outreach on both sides of the border.
• To be most effective, any new Jesuit ministry initiative must work closely with the priests and parish communities of the local church—the Diocese of Tucson in Arizona, and the Diocese of Hermosillo in Sonora—as parishes will likely be the primary location of our outreach and ministries. Moreover, both dioceses have expressed a desire to meet and work more intentionally with one another, something that a Jesuit ministry may provide.
• The goal is to create a ministry that will be community-based and ultimately self- sustainable.

In the pursuit of creating a credible binational ministry—one that works with communities on both sides of the border and that actively seeks to bring members of those two communities together—the U.S. Jesuits reached out to the Mexico Province of the Jesuits and the Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist. Over the past several years, the Mexican Jesuits have developed an effective pastoral formation program for communities in southern Mexico that are affected by the reality of northward migration of people from South and Central America on their way to the United States. The Mexican Jesuits have agreed to participate in the proposed border ministry through the auspices of the Jesuit Migration Service/Mexico. In the city of Nogales, Sonora, the Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist have a particular apostolic priority to reach out to Mexican returnees and deportees, particularly women. They have already conducted an exploratory diagnostic survey that has provided important data on the numbers and needs of unaccompanied women who are deported in the Nogales, Sonora area.

In close consultation and cooperation with leaders of the Diocese of Tucson, the Archdiocese of Hermosillo, the sisters of the Missionaries of the Eucharist, Jesuit Refugee Service, and the Mexican Jesuits, the California Province has approved a collaborative proposal to create and participate in “The Kino Border Initiative” (KBI), which will formally launch in January 2009. The California Province will open a new Jesuit residential community in Nogales, Ariz.—including Jesuits from the California Province, JRS/USA, and potentially Jesuits from the Mexico Province—whose residents will work with lay partners and volunteers to serve in three distinct dimensions of ministry: education and formation; socio-pastoral outreach; and research and advocacy on both sides of the border in Ambos Nogales.

EDUCATION AND PASTORAL FORMATION

Over the course of 2008, the founding partners of the KBI will engage in a one-year process of assessment and diagnostics regarding possibilities for pastoral formation on migration issues and the Catholic social tradition in Ambos Nogales. Based upon the fruits of the assessment, we will make parish-based formation opportunities available for educational outreach and pastoral formation on both sides of the border according to the interests and needs of each parish, which will likely include the following:

• facilitating discussions on migration and border issues
• offering formation for migration ministry teams at parishes, including in-depth formation on migration, Catholic social teaching, the border reality, and community action
• facilitating cross-border opportunities for encounter and exchange with counterparts at parishes on the other side of the border
• offering opportunities for stand-alone workshops and retreats related to theology, spirituality, social analysis, and the border reality.

Moreover, and of particular interest to communities such as Santa Clara University, the Kino Border Initiative will host short-term delegations of students and parishioners who want to learn more about the complex realities of migration and the border in light of Catholic social teaching, and Ignatian spirituality. The twin cities of Ambos Nogales will become an important point of contact, accompaniment, and reflection for the entire Ignatian family.

SOCIO-PASTORAL OUTREACH

On the U.S. side of the border, socio-pastoral outreach will consist primarily of providing formation and education to members of local parishes seeking to engage in appropriate migrant outreach ministry. The KBI will assist in gathering and focusing the efforts of the many nonprofit agencies who are engaged in community service and migrant outreach in the cities and communities south of Tucson. For the most part, these agencies do not have a significant presence in Nogales, AZ, and the KBI would like to work with them to coordinate their efforts in this city. Similarly, there is a significant need for the KBI to create opportunities to bring together priests and pastoral leaders from both sides of the border in a more systematic way; to create relationships, foster communication, and build solidarity between people who are dedicated to the common good of communities on both sides of the border.

In terms of direct accompaniment and outreach on the Mexico side of the border, the KBI will assist the priests of Nogales, Sonora, in their existing and evolving migrant apostolic ministries to provide immediate humanitarian care to deported Mexican migrants, emergency shelter for vulnerable migrant women, and the development of longer-term shelter alternatives for deported migrants. In addition, the KBI will collaborate with existing nonprofit organizations that are working on behalf of migrants and human rights. Combining the apostolic resources of JRS/USA and the Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist, the KBI aims to support a ministry of accompaniment to recently deported migrants from the U.S.

During the preparatory phase of the project (2008), the KBI will employ the Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist to assist the church in Nogales by staffing a welcoming migrant care center and also by setting up a small-scale shelter to serve as a pilot program to assess and meet the needs of vulnerable women who have been deported. Because of their unique social and psychological needs, these women are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. When possible, the KBI will provide opportunities for visiting delegations to engage in accompaniment and direct service to migrants and the communities affected by their needs.

RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY

During the course of their ministerial outreach on both sides of the border, the staff of the KBI will gather ongoing sociological analysis on human rights, demographics, and the consequences of economic and legislative policy at the border. The KBI will then feed that data to local and national groups engaged in advocacy and education such as JRS/USA, the Jesuit Conference, the Center of Concern, Catholic Relief Services, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

With the cooperation of Jesuit colleges and universities, the KBI also plans to host a scholar-in-residence program for academic professionals who are interested in a semester-long research fellowship focused on issues related to the border. This would be an opportunity open to faculty from the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities who wish to spend some time at the border, engaging in this complex reality directly, with the goal of producing research that will enhance the national dialogue regarding migration and border issues.

Ultimately, the Jesuits strive to be “in solidarity with the least and with all.” By making a concrete and visible commitment to the Kino Border Initiative, the Society of Jesus is making a public and prophetic commitment to stand—with one foot on each side of the border—in a context of suffering, misunderstanding, humility, and hope. While the Jesuits and their lay partners have much to offer in terms of resources, spirituality, education, and social tradition, they also have much to learn and receive from the reality of communities living on both sides of the Mexican border. Through the KBI, the province seeks to form a lasting partnership that serves the Church by providing opportunities for pastoral formation, providing faith-based social analysis, and advocating for the protection of human rights and the common good.

NOTES

1 Ambos Nogales (“both Nogales”) is a common name for two border towns of Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora.